Qatar's innovative project Doha North Sewage Treatment Works (STW), which was developed at a cost of QR3.63 billion ($995 million), has entered the operational stage.

Located in Umm Salal Ali, 25 km to the North of Doha, it is the first sewage treatment plant in Qatar to use advanced treatment techniques such as ultrafiltration and ultraviolet technologies.  

The modern facility features advanced biological treatment processes as well as ultrafiltration, which is an ultra-membrane filtration technique that separates large molecules and small granules from the water, said a statement from Qatar's Public Works Authority (Ashghal).

The STW started receiving sewage flows of 46,000 cu m per day from the main pumping station in Northern Doha (PS70) located in Al Kheesa.

According to Ashghal, the Doha North STW became fully operational in December 2015, after a full year of inspection and testing processes completed by the Qatari Civil Defense and other entities.

The first phase of the project has been designed to treat up to 245,000 cu m of sewage per day, serving a projected population of over 900,000 people by 2020.

The second phase of the project includes the construction of a thermal drying plant (TDP) within the Doha North STW.

On its operations, Ashghal said the TDP will receive and treat sludge generated from not just Doha North STW but also from all the other sewage treatment works in Qatar.

The sludge is dewatered, processed through the thermal dryers to finally produce dried pellets which are bagged and stored for distribution.

The construction of the TDP is substantially completed and is currently going through final commissioning. It includes four thermal dryers which are currently being tested utilising sludge generated at the Doha North STW and the Doha West STW.

Two of the thermal dryers are expected to be handed over in the second quarter of 2016, while the other two are expected to be handed over in the third quarter of 2016.

The Doha North STW is the first facility with a comprehensive odour control system to minimise the impact on the surrounding environment.

Singapore-based Keppel Seghers Engineering has been roped in for the project work.

As part of the work, the buffer zone surrounding the STW will be carefully landscaped to form a lush-green oasis that includes approximately 95,000 trees and 50 picnic areas with interconnecting roads and a bird watching lagoon which is considered the first of its kind in Qatar.

The roads and picnic areas are completed, and a bird-watching lagoon is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2016, said Ashghal in its report.

The remaining irrigation pipework and planting are in progress as well as the construction of artificial mounds across the area, which is expected to be completed by mid 2017, it added.

The project work is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2017.-TradeArabia News Service